A8. In Zimbabwe, The Media Committee (comprising of MISA Zimbabwe, The Media Monitoring Project, FAMWZ/ ZUJ, IJAZ and Kubatana.net) that was set up by journalists in January 2002 to look into how concerns over the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) could be tackled, organised a report back and consultative meeting for journalists on 19 October 2002. A total of 120 journalists, media practitioners and other stakeholders attended the meeting in Harare. Resolutions that were adopted at the end of the meeting called for, among other things, the set up of a Media Support Fund and the continued legal challenges against AIPPA. It was also decided that a public awareness campaign on the dangers of AIPPA be immediately started. The campaign has taken the form of print media adverts highlighting the negative clauses of AIPPA. Other strategies are still being considered. In the advocacy work done around AIPPA and the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) MISA Zimbabwe realised that a significant short coming was the lack of adequate public demand from democratic media legislation. In order to generate public participation as well as public demand for media law reform, the Chapter set up Advocacy Committees in 4 towns – Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare and Masvingo. Plans are underway to set up similar committees in Kwekwe and Chinhoyi. The Advocacy Committees are meant to work as grassroots consultative base for MISA Zimbabwe. The committees have been assisting in the implementation of the advocacy programme and the public awareness campaign currently being run by the organisation. The groups are made up of MISA Zimbabwe members and other civil society organisations representatives. On 11-13 April, 2002, the Legal department organized the second Media Lawyers Network conference that was held in Nyanga. The theme for this year’ s conference was “Under Siege: The role of legal practitioners in fighting for media freedom”. The conference was well attended and some of the issues that emerged at the conference include the following: Awareness raising around Public Order and Security Act (POSA) , Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) for the following target groups 1. Lawyers 2. Journalists 3. Civil society There was need to connect the three groups together to do the following: 1. Formulate and strategise for effective advocacy campaigns 10